Beyond Good & Evil 2: What to Expect

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We examine the original game and the trailer to draw conclusions.

By IGN AU Staff

Ubisoft has its Miyamoto. His name is Michel Ancel and he is a masterful game designer. Rayman is his – a character he developed in his teens that landed him a position on Ubisoft's staff, and a few busy years later, he crafted the series into one of gaming's best known franchises. King Kong, created around Peter Jackson's reimagining of the cinematic classic, was also his – a critically overlooked action shooter that debuted alongside the Xbox 360 when it launched.

And then there's Beyond Good & Evil – a game that enchanted us with its stunning characters, subversive plot and gameplay that gave a few gracious nods to the leaders of the adventure genre while stepping out on its own with elements of photography, stealth and creativity.

A Few Thoughts

BG&E was – is still – a masterpiece of game design and direction. You might know about it – perhaps you even bought it – but it was never a financial success, for all its great ideas and strong storyline. Part of the problem was a perceived identity crisis –Ubisoft simply didn't know how to market the thing. The story starred a green hued heroine wildlife photographer living in a land of people, humanoid robots and anthropomorphic animals, with society on the brink of a social revolution and uprising. Gameplay skipped between photography, shooting, racing, balletic combat and role-playing – and it was unconventionally beautiful. How do you make that sound palatable to Joe Average gamer out there, who only has eyes for the next Halo or Gran Turismo?

Jade's return to the spotlight looms in the distance. But what can we expect in the sequel?

The as the story goes, you play Jade – as we mentioned, a photographer living in a lighthouse on an island off the shore of Hillys, taking care of orphans with her 'uncle' Pey'j – a gruff bipedal hog with a penchant for fixing engines and beating things around with his wrench. She works for the IRIS network – a renegade media organisation that wants to combat the spread of the oppressive DomZ race who are bent on invasion. So it's uncertain times for Hillyian residents.

The ending, without spoiling things, leaves room open for a sequel – thanks to a small scene after the credits that suggests things aren't entirely resolved.

We know from interviews that Beyond Good & Evil 2 has been in various stages of production since at least mid-2007. That indicates a few things. One, Ancel had a lot of time to sit back and digest his work on 2003's effort – to take in the handful of criticisms and to really ponder where to take the story and characters. Two, it also means that Ubisoft isn't rushing this one. It has no reason to, since technically demand isn't there, if you're going by sales figures. So, what can we expect and what do we want to see?

BG&E to Wii?

First things first – a whole new generation of gamers need reintroducing to Jade and company, and what better way than through rereleasing the original game, optimised for Wii? The Wii offers a control scheme that perfectly suits the emphasis on camera aiming and control, as well as hardware that is, functionally, only a little more powerful than the GameCube – making a port of the GameCube game a logical Choice. So that's the first option.

Xbox 360 / PS3 Download?

The second option would be to rerelease the game via Xbox Classics or over the PlayStation Network. At this stage, the game isn't backwards compatible, which strongly suggests Microsoft and Ubisoft are looking at ways of monetising this game once again in time for the sequel. If that turns out to be the case, here's hoping for 1080p optimization and improved textures.

The Setting:

The trailer, which is rendered by the in-game engine, according to Ubisoft, opens with a fly-over of a desert stretch, dry and dusty, broken only by a single stretch of tarmac pushing to the horizon. Three moons fill the skyline, staggering off into the ether, subtly reminding us that this isn't your typical central American desert. As the camera pulls down, we see Pey'j resting against the front bumper of a broken down hover car, its engine spewing black smoke and a figure we assume to be Jade perched under an umbrella on the trunk.

Pey'j - the single most interesting pig since Porco Rosso. Or 'Babe'.

Gone are the rivers and byways at this stage, replaced by an open desert wasteland. This isn't likely to be a playable location – rather, just the set-up for the introduction to the game. Pey'j and Jade are on the move (well, technically they're not during the trailer) – and the game will probably pick up when they've repaired the car or hopped a lift.

The teaser touts a new desert landscape - but is this a red herring? We think so.

One thing the scale of the trailer suggests is that there may be a greater emphasis on seamless travel between locations – particularly as it looks like the setting is now completely different from the interlocked islands, labs and city sections of the first. With seamless locations comes the return of vehicles – perhaps the broken down junker of a flying car from the trailer. That would make sense – Pey'j perhaps needs to repair and upgrade this hover car to allow you to access each sequential area, much like the the Pearl System from the first. Mammago's garage probably won't return, unless they've relocated since the last game.